June 08, 2008	Sunday	Jamadi-us-Sani 03, 1429

JERUSALEM, June 7: An Israeli minister on Saturday accused the international community of failing to halt Iran’s nuclear drive and the West of being “resigned” to Tehran’s development of nuclear weapons.

“My feeling is that the enlightened Western world, and I don’t know if it still is, is resigned to the development of a nuclear bomb in Iran,” Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer told Israeli public radio.

He accused the international community of limiting its response to Tehran’s accelerating nuclear programme to “words” alone.

Israel has long accused Tehran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian programme and has come to consider Iran its greatest threat.

Iran denies the accusations, insisting its nuclear programme is peaceful.

“Hundreds of European and American firms, and I’m not even talking about the Chinese and North Koreans, are doing business with Iran day and night,” Ben-Eliezer said.—AFP